HP and Intel planning more Cortana-powered devices

Microsoft revealed a partnership with HP and Intel to produce more Cortana-powered devices.

HP and Intel working on integrating Cortana into their devices

Microsoft and Harman Kardon unveiled Invoke, the first Cortana-powered speaker and the first taste of the many things coming our way. After becoming partners with Microsoft, HP plans on working on integrating Cortana into its devices while Intel turns its attention to reference platforms.

Cortana Skills Kit launched for public preview

The is perfect news just after the public release of the Cortana Skills Kit, which gives more developers the ability to create skills or port already existing Amazon Alexa skills over to Microsoft’s platform. This will make Cortana and any hardware runs it on more useful and represents a challenge to Amazon’s Echo in the smart home niche.

Windows 10 HomeHub feature

Considering all the latest leaks surrounding an upcoming Windows 10 feature named HomeHub, this is an area we can really see Microsoft delving into much further during this year.

For those who don’t know yet, the HomeHub feature will include an always-on welcome screen that will show you things like to-do lists, notes, and calendars. According to the Verge:

The welcome screen is really designed for kitchen PCs and new smaller hardware with screens that will support Cortana voice commands from across the room. Microsoft appears to be readying Windows 10 for future devices that are similar to Amazon’s new Echo Show hardware, with easy access to voice search, calling, and smart device control. Microsoft’s differentiator is that it wants these devices to be considered full Windows 10 PCs.

As Microsoft is already working with PC partners for creating HomeHub hardware, we might even get to see some of this hardware during the upcoming event in China on May 23.